Foldables in the Classroom

Hi, fellow educators! It's Shelly Rees from Appletastic: Blossoming in Fifth Grade. I am excited to share my love of Foldables, Flip Flaps, Flappables, and anything interactive! 

You've heard them called by many names, but foldables have taken over many classrooms, and for good reason. Since I started using these nifty little treasures, student interest has picked up and retention of concepts has increased. Here are several ways you can incorporate foldables into your students' learning:

 Take notes under flaps of major historical events. Draw arrows between the events and number them to show their chronological order.

 Have students create fact cards about a specific event and then keep them inside a pocket glued to a notebook page. They can refer to the fact cards for study and review.

 Side-opening flaps are great for having students solve problems on the front and writing the answers beneath.

 Timelines are more memorable and exciting when students construct them by gluing together shorter event strips. Add the long timelines to a bulletin board to make an eye-catching display!

 Foldables are great for bulletin boards, too! Staple the flap to the board and place the information beneath. Students can refer to the flaps for practice and review.

 Fold a file folder inward to create a lapbook. Add flaps and foldables to the lapbook to make it truly interactive. This is a great way to showcase student work and to create a culminating project! You can find an easy-to-follow lapbook tutorial HERE.

 Pockets are perfect for sorting information. Create a pocket for any topic and have students sort words into the pockets. This works for any subject (nouns and verbs, solids and gasses, prime and composite numbers, etc.)!

 Mini file folders are a wonderful way to take notes on a specific topic. Each tab of the folder can be used as a subtopic. Watch a video of how I use these mini file folders HERE.

 Foldables don't have to be square! 

 Create a mini booklet by having students glue end over end of small pages or simply staple the old-fashioned way.

 Make geometry more hands-on by creating foldables of 2-dimensional shapes and listing the properties beneath the flaps.

 Create doorways by gluing the outer edges of 2 rectangles to a page. Place notes, graphs, or illustrations behind the doors.

 Staggered booklets are great for studying a topic more in-depth. 

 Have students put 2 or more parts together to find a bigger concept. This can be as simple as compound words or as complex as understanding the words of the Preamble!

 Loving these mini-books!

 Cover portions of an information table with flaps. This is a great way for students to study and review.

You can see why I am flipping for flippables and foldables! My fifth grade students really do love using them, and they beat old-fashioned note-taking any day of the week!

If you are interested in any of my Social Studies Interactive Notebook Units shown in the pictures above, you can find them all right HERE at my TpT Store!

One of my favorite Social Studies units is my

Colonial America Geography Interactive Notebook.

Thanks and Happy Folding!

Shelly Rees

Memorial Day Activities

Hi everyone! Kelsea here from Teacher Gems. Today I will be sharing some ideas for how to celebrate Memorial Day but before we get to that I want to give you a little history on the holiday.

Memorial Day is a US federal holiday that is observed each year on the last Monday in May. This year it will be observed on Monday, May 25. Memorial Day started after the American Civil War to honor soldiers that died during the Civil War. It was originally called Decoration Day because people would decorate soldiers gravestones with flowers. On Memorial Day we remember those who died in active service to our country.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan (national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic) and was first observed on May 30, 1868. After WWI the holiday changed from honoring just those who died while fighting in the Civil War to all Americans who died while fighting in any war.

It is vital that we teach our students about this important holiday so that they will gain a respect and appreciation for those who have paid the ultimate price for our freedoms! There are many ways to teach students about this holiday.

Activities to Celebrate Memorial Day

• Decorate a fallen soldier’s gravestone with flowers
• Attend or participate in a Memorial Day parade
• Invite a veteran to speak to your class
• Invite a family member of a fallen soldier to speak to your class
• Visit a veterans’ home and ask them to share their stories
• Read a book to your class about a fallen soldier 
• Read a book to your class about the history of Memorial Day
• Have students research the history of Memorial Day or study the life of a fallen soldier
• Have students interview a veteran or family member of a fallen soldier
• Have students write thank you cards to veterans or family members of fallen soldiers
• Watch a video related to Memorial Day

A few years ago I put together some “Oreo Memorial” Day activities as a fun way for students to learn about the holiday. Most students love Oreo cookies and the play on words helps them remember the holiday!

One activity with the "Oreo Memorial" theme is the Oreo pops flower bouquet. This is a fun one to make to bring to a veterans' home as a way to say thank you.

Another fun activity to learn about Memorial Day is to create a giant American flag. We made this one on a large piece of poster board. We created the 50 stars out of Oreos of course! Below are a few more sample pages from my "Oreo Memorial" Day Activities. Click on the image below to check out the full product.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Revolutionary War Activity- No Taxation Without Representation!

Hi!  It's Pam Olivieri from Rockin Resources!  Do you look at the sweet faces in your classroom and see blank stares?  I think we all do at times, which motivates us to stay after school or work late at night finding ways to keep our students engaged.  Students get a deeper level of meaning from lessons that include a connection or hands-on activity.  It gets them excited about learning!  This Revolutionary War activity has incorporated both a connection piece and a hands-on activity.  It works well for my fourth graders, so I hope your students will enjoy it as well!

Preparations and Materials:
2 snack bags of Skittles or M&M's per student
Large construction paper
Crayons or markers
A bucket or basket for collecting candy

5 Steps to the lesson:

1.  Informational Text-  We learn a bit about taxes (tariffs) and why they were one of the causes of the Revolutionary War.  Here is a synopsis of the Stamp Act of 1765.

2.  Candy Activity-  

First, appoint roles to three students (King of England- King George III, representative of the Parliament, and a tax collector).  Have them sit facing the rest of the class in the front of the room.  

Second, give each student at their seats one pack of the candy.  Tell them they are not to eat the candy until the activity is completed.  (Have the extra pack to eat after everyone does an amazing job focusing and participating!)

Next, tell students that they just earned money (candy) for their jobs, but they need to pay some taxes.  

Then, the tax collector needs to go around and collect money (candy) for each person who possesses the following:  Wearing jeans, having glasses, wearing a necklace, holding a pen (whatever else you choose).  You may even decided to tax more than one piece of candy for some of the items.  I guarantee your class will get fired up!!!!!!

At the end, the tax collector keeps 10%, gives 50% to the representative from Parliament for running the Empire, and the King 40%.  After all the taxes have been collected, discuss how the students feel.  

3.  Writing Activity:  This is a great time to incorporate writing!  They will be so fired up and want to tell you their opinions for sure!  Compare their feelings of paying taxes to the colonists paying taxes to Britain.

4.  Poster:  Explain the term boycott- a refusal to buy something to show your disapproval.  As a response to these taxes, colonists decided to boycott all British goods!  They used the saying, "NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!"  Have students create posters with their feelings about taxes.  I allowed the King, Parliament and tax collector to create posters too!  :)

From a tax collector

From the King

5.  Protest:  Form a protest and march up and down the halls!  They will love it!  ( of course principal approval first)  Some kids decided to grab a ruler and attach it to the back of their posters.  Creative minds!  Even if your neighbor will allow you to march through her/his class, the kids will remember it even more!  

Walllaaaaa!!!  Fun times in the classroom!  This is one of the many activities I use in my classroom to keep my students engaged with the Revolutionary War.  If this fits well with your classroom and you are interested in seeing more, click on the picture below!

  

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